FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Everyone, if you've read my posts, you know that I love the plants as though they're the children I'll never have. So to me, their health matters much more than whether they live with me. That's why my friend Jennifer has adopted them to keep them outdoors in full sun. Maybe someday, when I can give carnivorous plants a better home, I'll buy more of them. For now, Jen's new "kids" probably are happy to have found a new home. Meanwhile, I'm going to read more books about CPs because I want to be an expert instead of what I probably am now, an advanced beginner.

It can definitely be challenging trying to grow indoors, but it can be done successfully. Sorry you had to give up your plants, best of luck in getting where you need to be to pick the hobby back up!

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Thank you, Adelaide. They grew well, and Sarracenias thrived under their 400-watt LED grow light that shined too brightly for the Flytraps. The S. x Love Bug came with three pitchers and grew six more under that light in about three months. The Parrot Pitcher flowered last year. The S. Red Ruffle grew fast enough to make me worry that too many pitchers would fill the pot if the plant weren't mere days away from "bedtime," i.e., October 31. That day that plant had already grown a tiny new pitcher. The Sarrs needed new pots, too, because their roots popped out the drainage holes in four-inch pots. I'm sure that if I bought another Parrot Pitcher, a Red Ruffle, a purpurea venosa, they would grow superbly here. But the plants lived in a bedroom, where no one would want to sleep near the 400-watt light. Orca film surrounded the plant cart, though, to reflect the light back on the plants. My friend Jennifer took the plants partly because I wanted people to sleep well in the "plant room."

Thank God my orchid plant seems healthy here. Still, it's hard to believe that it doesn't mind "cold feet" when I water it with three ice cubes a week because the florist's instructions tell me to do that.

Definitely don't water the orchid with ice cubes! Orchid sellers want you to buy orchids because you think it'll be easy to keep them alive. Orchids hate cold feet and should really be watered according to how dry they are, as the schedule varies considerably depending on what substrate they're in and what the conditions in the room are.
Good info here: http://www.aos.org/orchids/culture-shee ... opsis.aspx

Maybe you could grow a few window sill plants. Some sundews and Nepenthes will grow fine without a big grow light. As far as your orchid, you must have purchased the same ones that I have, that tell you to water with ice cubes. I think it's so people don't overdo it with watering rather than the fact that the water needs to be cold. The ice melts slowly so they aren't kept to wet.
http://www.justaddiceorchids.com

Fishkeeper wrote:Definitely don't water the orchid with ice cubes! Orchid sellers want you to buy orchids because you think it'll be easy to keep them alive. Orchids hate cold feet and should really be watered according to how dry they are, as the schedule varies considerably depending on what substrate they're in and what the conditions in the room are.
Good info here: http://www.aos.org/orchids/culture-shee ... opsis.aspx

Thank you for warning me, Fishkeeper. I'll do what you suggest. But I wish I knew exactly how much water to give the plant once a week. I want to measure the water with a measuring cup partly because "moderately moist" and other vague phrases confuse me. That's why I bought a moisture meter to tell me whether the peat for the CPs was dry, moist, or wet. If its needle moved to the middle, everything was fine.

The Orchid's instructions tell me about how much water three ice cubes will give the orchid. So from now on, I'll pour that much into the pot each Sunday.

Maybe I love the plants more than the nurseries do. But to me, it's sad to hear that they would tell me to do something that's not good for the plant. Nurserymen might even hope that the plant would die, so I'd buy a new one. I'm not an environmental activist. If I hugged a try, I'd do that only to hold myself up when my crutches fell. Still, it troubled me deeply when people ignored Lee and Matt's instructions when I gave VFTs as gifts. Sometimes I almost begged someone to let his Holland Red "sleep" for three months in a cold room. Instead, he put it on top of his refrigerator, it grew where it grew fast and died.

hollyhock wrote:Maybe you could grow a few window sill plants. Some sundews and Nepenthes will grow fine without a big grow light. As far as your orchid, you must have purchased the same ones that I have, that tell you to water with ice cubes. I think it's so people don't overdo it with watering rather than the fact that the water needs to be cold. The ice melts slowly so they aren't kept to wet.
http://www.justaddiceorchids.com

That's a good idea, hollyhock. Thank you. I'll buy the windowsill collection from California Carnivores to let the new plants share the windowsill with the orchid.

One way I keep track of moisture for Phalaenopsis is by putting a bamboo skewer (like for shish kabobs) into the sphagnum and checking it every day or so. If you use this method, don't water unless the stick is dry and when it is, just soak the media thoroughly

SFLguy wrote:One way I keep track of moisture for Phalaenopsis is by putting a bamboo skewer (like for shish kabobs) into the sphagnum and checking it every day or so. If you use this method, don't water unless the stick is dry and when it is, just soak the media thoroughly

You grow Phalaenopsis in sphagnum? My Phal looks as though its exposed roots are clinging to pieces of bark.

BillMcEnaneyJr wrote:

SFLguy wrote:One way I keep track of moisture for Phalaenopsis is by putting a bamboo skewer (like for shish kabobs) into the sphagnum and checking it every day or so. If you use this method, don't water unless the stick is dry and when it is, just soak the media thoroughly

You grow Phalaenopsis in sphagnum? My Phal looks as though its exposed roots are clinging to pieces of bark.

Yup, bark works for some, i personally prefer sphagnum

What was your setup like? If you want to successfully grow them indoors, get yourself a nice t5 high output light fixture. No need to quit because a few weren't doing so good. If you're worried about killing them, just don't buy any rare ones for a while. Stick with ones that make millions of seeds, like D. burmannii, D. capensis, D. natalensis, etc.. Something else you can do, is try to grow pots of sphagnum moss under lights. If you can keep the live sphagnum happy, you can keep A LOT of carnivorous plants happy, as well.

Doomsday wrote:What was your setup like? If you want to successfully grow them indoors, get yourself a nice t5 high output light fixture. No need to quit because a few weren't doing so good. If you're worried about killing them, just don't buy any rare ones for a while. Stick with ones that make millions of seeds, like D. burmannii, D. capensis, D. natalensis, etc.. Something else you can do, is try to grow pots of sphagnum moss under lights. If you can keep the live sphagnum happy, you can keep A LOT of carnivorous plants happy, as well.

The plants seemed healthy, Doomsday. Jennifer adopted them mostly because someone will need to sleep in the bedroom where the plants lived. Jen took my plant cart, two of my three grow lights and the timer for those lights. So now that he has repotted them, they'll live indoors until they'll be warm enough outdoors.

SFLguy wrote:

BillMcEnaneyJr wrote:

SFLguy wrote:One way I keep track of moisture for Phalaenopsis is by putting a bamboo skewer (like for shish kabobs) into the sphagnum and checking it every day or so. If you use this method, don't water unless the stick is dry and when it is, just soak the media thoroughly

You grow Phalaenopsis in sphagnum? My Phal looks as though its exposed roots are clinging to pieces of bark.

Yup, bark works for some, i personally prefer sphagnum

How do they hang on to it? I thought they needed to hold what the sat on.

I put my phaleonopsis outside on a tree for the summer last year,and when fall came, I removed the chicken wire I had it suspended against. To find out the roots were actually growing on the bark, they will, in time, do thst

BillMcEnaneyJr wrote: How do they hang on to it? I thought they needed to hold what the sat on.

They just sort of send their roots through it and grab hold of the sphagnum without a problem.